A side wall of a trailer is formed by at least one side panel positioned over a base rail. The at least one side panel forms an upper portion of the side wall and is joined with the base rail forming the lower portion of the side wall. The at least one side panel is joined with the base rail using a lap joint such as that shown in FIG. 1. The lap joint includes a splice member 10 which positions the side panel 12 relative to the base rail 14. The splice member 10, panel 12, and base rail 14 are secured into position using rivets 16. The side panels 12 and base rail 14 are thus stacked on one another or overlapped to form the lap joint. As a result, an offset is provided at the lap joint and the resulting side wall 8 is not planar. This offset between the side panels 12 and the base rail 14 results in a significant bending moment exerted to the lap joint during trailer operation which can result in deformation of the trailer side wall.
The present invention provides a butt joint between the side panels and the base rail which overcomes the problems presented in the prior art and which provides additional advantages over the prior art, such advantages will become clear upon a reading of the attached specification in combination with a study of the drawings.